Definitions for tough
tʌftough

Princeton's WordNet(3.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. street fighter, toughnoun

   someone who learned to fight in the streets rather than being formally trained in the sport of boxing

2. hood, hoodlum, goon, punk, thug, tough, toughie, strong-armernoun

   an aggressive and violent young criminal

3. bully, tough, hooligan, ruffian, roughneck, rowdy, yob, yobo, yobboadjective

   a cruel and brutal fellow

4. toughadjective

   not given to gentleness or sentimentality

   "a tough character"

5. rugged, toughadjective

   very difficult; severely testing stamina or resolution

   "a rugged competitive examination"; "the rugged conditions of frontier life"; "the competition was tough"; "it's a tough life"; "it was a tough job"

6. tough, toughenedadjective

   physically toughened

   "the tough bottoms of his feet"

7. sturdy, toughadjective

   substantially made or constructed

   "sturdy steel shelves"; "sturdy canvas"; "a tough all-weather fabric"; "some plastics are as tough as metal"

8. ruffianly, toughadjective

   violent and lawless

   "the more ruffianly element"; "tough street gangs"

9. bad, toughadjective

   feeling physical discomfort or pain (`tough' is occasionally used colloquially for `bad')

   "my throat feels bad"; "she felt bad all over"; "he was feeling tough after a restless night"

10. toughadjective

    resistant to cutting or chewing

11. hard, toughadjective

    unfortunate or hard to bear

    "had hard luck"; "a tough break"

12. baffling, elusive, knotty, problematic, problematical, toughadjective

    making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe

    "a baffling problem"; "I faced the knotty problem of what to have for breakfast"; "a problematic situation at home"

Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. toughnoun

   A person who obtains things by force; a thug or bully.

   They were doing fine until they encountered a bunch of toughs from the opposition.

   Etymology: From toh, from tanhuz.

2. toughverb

   To endure.

   Etymology: From toh, from tanhuz.

3. toughverb

   To toughen.

   Etymology: From toh, from tanhuz.

4. toughadjective

   strong and resilient; sturdy

   The tent, made of tough canvas, held up to many abuses.

   Etymology: From toh, from tanhuz.

5. toughadjective

   difficult to cut or chew

   To soften a tough cut of meat, the recipe suggested simmering it for hours.

   Etymology: From toh, from tanhuz.

6. toughadjective

   rugged or physically hardy

   Only a tough species will survive in the desert.

   Etymology: From toh, from tanhuz.

7. toughadjective

   Stubborn.

   He had a reputation as a tough negotiator.

   Etymology: From toh, from tanhuz.

8. toughadjective

   harsh or severe

   Etymology: From toh, from tanhuz.

9. toughadjective

   rowdy or rough.

   A bunch of the tough boys from the wrong side of the tracks threatened him.

   Etymology: From toh, from tanhuz.

10. toughadjective

    difficult or demanding

    This is a tough crowd.

    Etymology: From toh, from tanhuz.

11. toughadjective

    Undergoing plastic deformation before breaking.

    Etymology: From toh, from tanhuz.

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Tough

   having the quality of flexibility without brittleness; yielding to force without breaking; capable of resisting great strain; as, the ligaments of animals are remarkably tough

2. Tough

   not easily broken; able to endure hardship; firm; strong; as, tough sinews

3. Tough

   not easily separated; viscous; clammy; tenacious; as, tough phlegm

4. Tough

   stiff; rigid; not flexible; stubborn; as, a tough bow

5. Tough

   severe; violent; as, a tough storm

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Tough

   tuf, adj. not easily broken: firm: stiff, viscous, sticky: stubborn, hard to manage, trying: violent: tenacious: able to endure hardship.—n. a rough, a bully.—v.t. or v.i. Tough′en, to make or become tough.—adj. Tough′ish, rather tough.—adv. Tough′ly.—n. Tough′ness. [A.S. tóh; cog. with Ger. zähe.]

Matched Categories

1. • Combatant
   • Criminal

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'tough' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #3162

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'tough' in Written Corpus Frequency: #2971

3. Adjectives Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'tough' in Adjectives Frequency: #328

Anagrams for tough »

1. ought

How to pronounce tough?

1. Alex

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

How to say tough in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of tough in Chaldean Numerology is: 7

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of tough in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8

Examples of tough in a Sentence

1. Alex Cora:

   I'm proud to be here, i'm proud representing not only all the Puerto Ricans that live in the island, but Puerto Ricans all around the world. We know what happened last year. It was a tough one.

2. Paul Coulibaly:

   In the north there is such poverty, the environment is so tough, that when the jihadists come they find it easy to get followers, even if they (fighters) don't bring money - just food - they will find allies if they can feed people.

3. Washington Times columnist Charles Hurt:

   Nancy Pelosi got booed this morning at a California delegation, event, Bernie Sanders can't even get through a speech endorsing Hillary Clinton without getting booed, it’s very, very tough for Hillary Clinton I think.

4. Darin Anderson:

   It is tough to rotate out of soybeans because what else are you going to plant?

5. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine:

   And, in what can sometimes be a tough business, Mike Oxley was genuinely liked by people on both sides of the aisle.

Images & Illustrations of tough

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